Book Review

**This is the July selection for our ward's book club. I am going to attempt a quick summary for those that couldn't read it-so, if you think I stink at summarizing feel free to keep it to yourself! ;-) -But, you can add anything I have forgotten in the comments section!

The Man Who Loved Jane Austen
by Sally Smith O'Rourke

Eliza Knight lives in New York, New York where she is an artist specializing in fantasy landscapes. She lives in an apartment decorated in functional IKEA style except for her bedroom, a cozy & warm place filled with antiques, warm blankets, and a favorite place to her cat.
While on a shopping trip for a lamp with her "kind-of" boyfriend, Jerry she finds a neat antique vanity that she decides she needs to have. As she is admiring the vanity she notices a gap in the wood behind the mirror. To her surprise as she is playing with it a couple of letters drop out onto the floor, addressed to a Mr. Darcy from a Jane Austen. You can imagine the surprise that Eliza has at this discovery as well as the skepticism!
Anyway, she Googles as to whether there really was a Mr. Darcy and gets an odd email from a FDarcy@Pemberlyfarms.com! She was a little annoyed thinking it all a farce. After emailing back and forth with this Darcy guy she decides to further her research a bit and heads to a Jane Austen exhibit at the library. There she meets a man that has quite a bit of knowledge about period clothing, Jane Austen, etc.-a man she finds quite attractive. After perusing the exhibit she finds out that one of the major Jane Austen authenticators is there in that library. So, she sneaks up a back stairway and finds the good authenticator's office. After much suspicion and then a willingness to authenticate the letters, the great authenticator, Thelma, tells Eliza that she will work on the letters and let her know.
So, Eliza heads home with some hope, but guarded all the same. Come to find out, when she heads back to Thelma's office, that the letters are indeed real. Now, one of the letters is already open and talks about ___________, the other is still sealed tight. This one is to Mr. Darcy from Jane herself. Eliza is encouraged to find the other recent collector of a Jane Austen letter, Fitwilliam Darcy of Pemberly Farms (in America), and find out what his letter has to say. Eliza realizes that it is the man she had been emailing (& then stopped) back and forth quite harshly. Not good! So, she heads down to Virginia to Pemberly Farms.
Eliza arrives at Pemberly, which is a beautiful, majestic mansion originally built in 1789. She is met at the gate by an attendant and insists on walking to the main house (Assuming it is close) since cars are not permitted over the weekend because of the Rose Ball. On her trek to the main house she is almost knocked over by a man on a horse who she soon finds out is Fitzwilliam Darcy, Fitz for short. He is the same handsome man from the library! (but he does not recognize her) Mmmm...She has hurt her elbow and is pretty out of it, so he puts her on his horse and takes her up to the main house. Fitz's friends are up there waiting to have lunch and are astonished when he rides up with a bedraggled woman on his horse! :-) Fitz's friend, Artemis and his wife Jenny attend to Eliza. Eliza cleans up and heads out to her invitation for lunch. She and Fitz meet about the letters in private and things do not go well. Fitz offers her however much for the letters and Eliza refuses his offer. She has come to find out what his letter said and what he knows...An argument of sorts ensues (mellow) and Eliza storms off and starts walking back to the main gates. She doesn't know it is over a mile so another friend, Harvey, heads down to charm her into staying for the weekend. She agrees and Fitz is surprisingly glad, not just because he wants the letters.
Eliza ends up making a deal with Fitz that if he will tell her why he is so interested in everything Jane Austen then she will let him read the letters. So, he begins his tale of how he went back in time to 1810.
It all begins when he bought a horse in England named Lord Nelson. A beautiful horse! He had stayed up partying with his friends too much the night before and woke up the next morning not feeling so hot and feeling the bigtime pains of regret for his lack of responsibility and common sense. So, to settle himself down he takes a ride. He is loving the time on the horse and realizes a bit to into a jump that he doesn't know what is on the other side of the wall. He is launched off of Lord Nelson and wakes up to a little girl kneeling over him in antique attire. He is confused of course as to where he is and he starts trying to let them know about whose house he is staying at. He is confused, they are confused. In the end the rescuers decide to take him to the closest cottage, home of the Austen sisters-sisters to the man that lives in the Great Chatham House. So, Fitz is taken to the cottage and Jane sends someone for the doctor. Fitz is in and out and is not happen when he is back "in" and finds leeches on his arm! Over the next couple of days he is in more than out, but pretends to be the latter so that he can observe Jane. He is eventually "outed" and is moved up to the big house. He tends to irk Jane a bit and definitely riles her up! He ends up telling her his story and they fall in love quickly. He is looking for a way to get back and she would rather experience love and lose it than never have experienced it at all. He eventually has suspicions raised because of the conflict going on between England and the colonies/states. He must leave and is unable to meet Jane once again in the fields.
Fitz returns to his time and Jane misses him. During this time she had been working on books and using her sister as an editor of sorts. She shared the stories only with her.
Let's see...so Fitz spends the next few years hunting down and correspondence from Jane possible.
Eliza has listened with intrigue. She is doubtful, but as she learns about Fitz and his family roots she not only falls for him, but believes him. She eventually lets him open her letter, knowing that a lot of value will be lost with that move. She attends the Rose Ball, a ball to raise money for those less fortunate. It is also a ball where everything returns to how it used to be-horse and carriages, old fashioned attire, everything. So, Fitz has a beautiful antique dress from Rose Darcy placed in Eliza's room for her to wear. They will reinact the love between his great great grandfather and grandmother.
And...come to the book club to hear the end! :-)